A typical vehicle has many lights on its exterior, including standard low-beam headlights, high-beam headlights, parking lights, turn indicator lights, fog lights, side-indicator lights, running lights, back-up lights, brake lights, and so on. The exterior lights used on vehicles generally, and especially on passenger automobiles, are made from many small parts. These parts add cost and complexity to the structure of the various lighting assemblies. The parts and materials used in these lights must have many properties and meet many requirements for satisfactory application.
These requirements include electrical conductivity in some parts and electrical resistance in others. Some parts or portions of parts must be highly reflective in order for best utilization of the lamp, while other parts must have high strength and high rigidity in order for the light to maintain dimensional integrity in all conditions of use. These conditions may vary from very cold, dry winters to very hot summers with high humidity. In addition to these material performance requirements, the customer and the manufacturer is keenly interested in keeping the number of parts and the cost of the lighting assemblies at a minimum. In addition, with so many lights and lighting assemblies on any one vehicle, it would be desirable if at least one of the many lights on a vehicle could be removed. That is, it would be desirable if at least one of the lights on a vehicle could be removed along with a source of power for use in emergencies. These emergencies could include use as marker flares along a road, or for general illumination at night in emergency service. In addition, since lighting assemblies provide an interface between a vehicle and the environment in which the vehicle functions, it may be economical to provide additional functions suitable for an interface into the assembly. These additional functions may include radar detection, tollway acknowledgement and payment, a vision camera or sensor, and other functions useful or necessary in a motor vehicle.
What is needed is a lighting assembly that has fewer parts, is made for a low cost, and is sufficiently modular that it may provide additional functions. What is also needed is a lighting assembly in which at least a portion of the assembly could be removed from a vehicle for remote lighting service.